Salvage
by DevilRed03
Summary: Beacon has Fallen. In the midst of the chaos Yang Xiao Long has not only lost the one thing that made her a damn good Huntress in training, she was left behind by the last person she wanted to see go. In a world that seems to teeter closer to the Second Great War, all Yang could do was curse what had happened. Slow burn Bumblebee, takes place after the end of Vol. 3
1. I

Quick PSA: Takes place after the end of Vol. 3 - fair warning if you're not caught up just yet.

This one has been sitting on the shelf for a few weeks now. Wrote up the original form of this story with the intent on keeping it extremely short. After going through the initial plunge with _Peppermint,_ I thought I'll try the venture of a more serious project and decided to expand upon _Salvage_. I've got an ending penned out already, the goal is to get this one into the ball park of 10 chapters - no promises.

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Curls that glowed as bright as the summer sun in the early morning flashed before amber eyes as the owner of them looked up from her book.

"Hmm." Lilac eyes impatiently awaited those amber eyes to focus on them.

No one was around them to see this precious secret the two have been hiding. Neither of the two participants did not care in the slightest that they've been acting like two school children - hiding behind corners, holding hands when no one suspected, and sneaking in a loving kiss here and there. Because they enjoyed it. The two could have cared less about who knew, but there was certain thrill to keeping it hidden.

"Yang…" Her voice had a wary undertone as she steadily eyed the blonde. Blake was curled up on her bed getting into her novel and Yang currently stood over her, the brawler had her hand on the top bunk, the other had made its way to the novel.

A typical reaction from Blake Belladonna would be to pull away before a soul would come near her precious book and then proceed to glare at the criminal who would dare to do such a thing.

But that was not the case, not at all for Yang Xiao Long.

A mischievous look told Blake everything she needed to know; she couldn't deny what was coming next, not that she wanted to.

The brawler smiled into the lips of her favorite Faunus, Yang was enveloped by the smell of blossoms wet with dew, and she thought of early dawn whenever she kissed her.

"I'll never get tired of this." Yang smiled cheekily as Blake pulled away, with greedy eyes she moved in for another.

Only to meet the leather bound cover of Blake's novel "I was just getting to a good part." She thumbed back to the page where she left off.

"But c'mon!" The brawler let out exasperatedly.

The reader cleared her throat, "Last time I let you have your way."

"Touché." Yang took a seat on the bed and leaned back against the wall, Blake extended her legs and placed them atop of the blonde's lap. "Now all these thoughts of you looking from under me with that predator look of yours is making me restless." She ran her hand up and down the cream colored skin of the Faunus. "You can't blame me for being so-"

"Submissive?" Blake cut in with a knowing smile, "If I recall, it wasn't too hard to get you on your back." She licked her lips, "So much for being the Huntress," Amber eyes stared into lilac ones as if they just cornered a very gullible prey, "you so proudly tout yourself to be. You're more like the prey you like to say you pounce on."

Yang swallowed hard as she felt her heart race, "It takes a bit to take me down."

"Liar." Blake shifted forward, her bookmark sticking out from the page she just finished. With a fluid motion she reached out her arms and began to stroke the brawlers right arm, the Faunus knew how much pride the brawler took in her strength. She knew that it stroked a part of her ego whenever she ran her hands along the muscles of her arm.

Yang was no push over, but for her favorite Faunus she was willing to make an exception.

The brawler inhaled that dew covered blossom scent, it was addicting and it made her heart race. But the more she breathed in the more it seemed to be stained with iron. And smoke. And used Dust powder. And blood.

Through a haze she could see a bleeding Blake holding on to her hand, tears running down her face, a stream of apologies flowed from the Faunus. All Yang wanted was to see her smile instead, to tell her it was okay.

But she couldn't.

"Don't leave me alone… please."

Drenched curls that were reminiscent of a wilted sunflower sat straight up. The winter afternoon air bit slightly at her sweat, she struggled to regain her breath.

"Fuck." Yang clenched her only fist as she bit the inside of her cheek, "Why…" Her anger seemed to boil over at the thought.

The world owed her nothing, it didn't matter what she did, because all good things came to an end. Bad things happen for no reason, and sometimes you were just never meant to have the things you thought you needed.

Friends. Family. Love.

Her friends had been killed. Her mom was nowhere to be found, despite her best attempts. Blake had done the one thing she never wanted her to do. Ever.

And that was leave.

Leave her alone in this world, this world that owed her nothing, this world that would never be fair to her, this world that was so keen on keeping her alone and in the dark.

She lifted her right arm to pound on the wall next to her, but all it did was remind her of how horribly disfigured she had become.

"Fucking Dust! Why?!" Yang roared in frustration.

Taiyang came barreling into the room where his eldest rested. A mess of blonde locks was bent over crying into her knees, a string of curses fell from her lips.

"It'll be okay." Taiyang tried to put out reassuringly, although he himself was unsure at what to do at this point. Never had he ever been in a position as such.

"No!" Yang proclaimed as her voice strained, "I should've died! Now look at me!" The stub of her arm waved about.

The gentle memory of Blake stroking her arm while in bed flashed through Yang's mind.

"I'm better off dead…" She sobbed as the memory played again.

Her father's face grew stern, his own temper starting to flare at his daughter's insistence of such a negative attitude. After everything that has happened… Taiyang shook his head and took a deep breath. If he were to snap, he would only add to his daughter's animosity.

Instead, he did what he remembered doing for… his first wife.

With strong arms he enveloped the smaller girl into an embrace. At first she pounded with all her might on his back, yelling to let go, biting into his shoulder.

But he refused. Taiyang bore through; he was a damn good Huntsman, and an even better father.

Just like Summer said he would always be.

It seemed like hours before Yang would calm down, eventually her screams turned into sobs, which would subside into gentle cries.

"You'll be okay." Taiyang repeated, this time with utmost confidence.

"What makes you so sure?" Yang's voice was muffled against his shoulder.

A rather confident grin broke out from him, "Because you're Xiao Long, but most importantly you're my daughter." He planted a kiss on her forehead.

"…I'll believe you Dad." Yang let out.

An abrupt rumble of her stomach rang throughout the air.

First the two looked at each other, then a fit of laughter erupted from the two.

"I've got some food going down stairs, I'll bring you some." He got up to go.

Only to hear the sounds of shuffling behind him, "Let's eat at the table."

Taiyang smiled, a tear threatened to spill from his eye as he wrapped a reassuring arm around his daughter's waist.

'Qrow, you better be watching over Ruby right now.' Taiyang thought to himself as he led his daughter down stairs.

It had been 3 weeks since Ruby ran off to Mistral, normally he would've ran after her and corralled her back, but Yang needed him more and Qrow gave him a drunken promise to look after her as he stalked off in his self-assured way.

Sometimes Taiyang just wanted to give his brother figure a piece of his mind. And by mind he meant his fist. Both fists, actually.

The following day, Yang got up. Which may not seem significant, but it was. The brawler got up and did her morning routine, albeit with great difficulty as she is – was – right handed.

Taiyang hung around the corner of the hallway, he was anxious that Yang would regress into her previous state. He wanted her to get better, to cope, to adapt, but in order to do that she needed to learn to help herself.

And she did, with a string of colorful words following her every action. Although his daughter had a very profane vocabulary, he was proud as he heard Yang come down the stairs, dressed in sweats and a long sleeve shirt.

Taiyang smiled every so lovingly as he planted a kiss on his daughter's forehead.

"Dad." Yang looked up at him, he nodded in response, puzzled at what it was that his daughter was thinking. "I want to go after Ruby."

"No." Taiyang turned heel into the kitchen, not fast enough as a blur of yellow came in front of him. "Yang, you can't. I won't let you." He eyed her, "It's too dangerous."

"Train me, train me like you did before I left for Beacon." There was a fire in her eyes as she looked defiantly, "Or else I'll run off too." An empty threat.

Or so Taiyang wanted to believe.

"Yang, you're strong, probably one of the strongest girls out there." A smile was earned from the impatient teenager. "But with your current condition it's not possible for you to become a Huntress."

"I won't take that for an answer, if you won't train me, I'll train myself." An angered expression took over, "I call bullshit, I can become a Huntress." Yang's defiant tone rang throughout the home, "I need to get out there Dad, I can't sit by and let them get away with what they did to me, what they did to Blake-" Yang cut off abruptly at the mention of the name.

Taiyang raised a brow at the name, he's heard this name several times now in this household. Especially while his eldest was initially recovering from her wounds, every time he heard a noise in the night and went to check on her room he would hear that name. He was thankful that her Semblance had cauterized the limb when her arm was initially cut off, thereby mitigating the threat of her bleeding out.

He wanted to press her on who Blake was, which he was about to until he saw the look on her face.

She was about to take 3 steps back and become a recluse again, is what his instincts were telling him.

"I'll train you." Taiyang quickly put out, this snapped Yang from her thoughts. "But I won't go easy, just because you're handicapped now-" He raised his hand to cut off the eccentric teen from interjecting "Doesn't mean that your adversaries will take it easy on you."

Yang grinned as her mood started to pick up.

"We'll start in a few days, for now, get used to moving around because you've spent so much time moping in bed." Taiyang teased lightly, attentively he observed his daughter's reaction to the comment.

"Psh, c'mon Dad, I bet I could give you a run for your money, even with one arm." Yang smirked as she shook her hand at him, "It'll just be an even better story to tell once I meet up with Ruby again."

That night, Yang crawled silently into bed, her Dad was up late going over some paperwork for Signal and digging up some training plans he kept in his closet. The road was going to be tough for her, but Yang was determined to get back out there.

She believed in Taiyang's words that she'll be okay, because right now those words seem to be the only thing she could cling to.

Her thoughts drifted, to her sister who took over what was left of JNPR, how her little sister was holding up, how she should be there for her, to watch her back because Yang had doubts that Jaune could do that proficiently. She thought of the Snow Princess and how her father came in full force to bring her back to Atlas, a sour look was prevalent on her face as it was more than obvious she was reluctant to go.

The fall of Beacon… Ruby held some sort of impressive power deep within her. Yang pondered if such a power was coursing through her veins as well.

Then to the scent of blossoms covered in dew, the sound of a low purr as her hand went over velvet ears, a discarded bow that Yang wish she wouldn't wear more often, the feel of her skin against hers…

"Why did you leave me?" A tear escaped as Yang lifted her one good arm on to her eyes, "I never wanted you to leave me alone."

Instead of reeling in pain, she bit her cheek as she focused on something else. Her anger. Anger at the one for leaving her. Anger at the person for causing this situation. Anger at the mastermind behind this all.

She just wanted to rage.

* * *

Hopefully you'll enjoy the ride - 'till the next chapter.

Cheers,

DevilRed


	2. II

Slow burn on the Bumblebee side, I wanted to post this yesterday with the first chapter, but I wasn't all that satisfied with the ending just yet.

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A strained face and an even more strained arm sweltered despite the colder temperature that winter brought about. A ragged breathe was let out as the form lowered herself to the ground, she saw out of the corner of her eye how her elbow was dangerously close to collapsing under the stress. However, she willed herself to keep going, to not falter as she pushed her form upwards to complete another rep. The process repeated itself, Yang knew she was coming close to her limit, but she wouldn't accept it when she was so close to the imposed goal of fifty push-ups.

"Your adversaries won't wait on you." Taiyang could be a rather cruel instructor, but he knew what his daughter needed in order to push out the last 3 repetitions.

When they first started it was rough as it was awkward for Yang. Trying to get used to the absence of her dominant hand. Taiyang persevered through his daughter's mini-outbursts whenever she couldn't do certain things she was more than able to before the loss of her arm. He did his best to be patient with her as he stepped her through certain motions, giving tips on how she should compensate.

It was what Summer would have wanted him to do.

The two had come a good way the past 2 weeks, Yang's stamina and strength was mostly intact, all she needed was some training to shake off some of the rust and taking the time to get used to her left arm. Of course Taiyang thought about getting Yang a prosthetic limb, he knew the sooner she could get one the better, but right now he needed to make sure that she could defend herself without it. He knew that once her enemies would see the limb it would surely become a target in order to weaken her.

What he needed to do was ensure Yang could defend herself aptly without one.

With a roar Yang lifted her form off the ground for a rep of fifty, Taiyang smiled proudly at his daughter as she rolled on to her back. She was exhausted from the hard day of training, but her day wasn't over yet. When her father saw that she still retained a very good stamina and that her strength had not atrophied that bad did he really start piling the workload on to her. He pushed her to move faster, to not pause and think about how she was going to accomplish the task with one hand, but to just do it and to get used to doing it. It was weird at first, but oddly she was getting used to doing all these tasks without her dominant hand.

Yang looked up above to the sky above her, it was getting late in the afternoon and she knew that she still had the light sparring she needed to do with her father.

Underneath the same sky amber eyes looked upon the late evening sun, the glowing gold reminding her of those wild locks she had come to adore… and miss very dearly.

A subtle noise that would've other wise went unnoticed made the hair on the Faunus' neck stand up.

With Gambol Shroud in its pistol form she fired a single shot at the creature hiding within the shadows. A Beowulf came scurrying out of the ruins of the building, Blake recognized it as a bar that she had went to before with the team. She frowned at the thought of her friends, but she quickly dispelled them as the monster's claws came straight for her face.

Easily she flipped back, putting some distance between the two and giving her enough time to transform her weapon into its katana form. As she had anticipated the Beowulf came charging after her.

Effortlessly, Blake Belladonna swiftly cut through the Beowulf as if it were made of paper.

Although victory was short lived as she heard more rumblings through out the shadows that were growing increasingly darker as the sun's final rays were beginning to dip below the horizon.

A tactical retreat was the next plan of action as Blake went to the rooftops and began to run full speed away from the crowd of monsters.

This was home now. The home she had managed to mess up with her presence.

She picked out a building that was relatively untouched from the damage of the initial Fall of Vale. As long as she kept quite at night and kept the fire dim, the Grimm didn't come around this safe zone she had encountered.

For the past few weeks she had stayed back and helped to evacuate any unlucky citizens that couldn't make their way out. Fighting selflessly as she had risked her life countless times now to help those in need.

But to Blake, she felt as if it wasn't enough to redeem herself for the crimes she had condemned herself with. Associating herself with an organization that had helped to bring about the downfall of her beloved academy. Associating herself with the guilt for not being strong enough – no, for not having the will to strike down her lover.

'Former lover.' Blake corrected her thoughts as they now drifted to Yang Xiao Long herself. 'What do I do now?' Blake couldn't seem to figure out a decent plan. As soon as her wound managed to heal up, she ran. She ran away from what she thought was going to be a problem. She ran away from Yang because of what had happened, because Blake had hesitated when confronted with both her past and current lover.

When she saw him – Adam – she didn't know what to feel, an instinctive part of her felt a bit compelled to go to him. It was only natural to be attracted to one's mate. 'Former mate.' She corrected in her mind once more. And then there was her rational thought, to stay and make him pay for what he was doing, slaughtering innocent people.

At the end of the day, the man she once fell in love with was no longer alive, just a hollow hateful shell of the man he once was in their younger days.

But for Yang, she was different. Yang was life, hope, and above all she was happiness.

However, the Faunus felt as if she wasn't deserving of it, she didn't deserve it because Yang had gotten hurt. She did not deserve her for hesitating while Yang was in the face of obvious danger, for costing the brawler the very source of her pride – Blake had cost Yang her strength, her power, the epitome of what she worked so hard every day to be.

Yang worked to be strong, to be dependable, to have the ability to protect everyone she held near and dear. But how could she do that now in her current state?

"She must hate me for what I have cost her." Blake let out rather mournfully, she didn't deserve Yang.

She peered out the now abandoned building's window; the ominous outline of the frozen dragon could be seen through the moonlight.

The hoards of Grimm were thickening with each day; it was becoming too dangerous at night to wander about alone.

Blake could only hope that she had helped the last of the stragglers over the past few weeks. Vale was becoming harsher with every day that past, her hope of ever reclaiming the city and righting these crimes she had thought she had committed.

For as long as she could, she would stay and try to thin the crowd of growing Grimm during the day. At night she would stay hidden, the beasts seemed to grow more ruthless during the night, especially now with their growing numbers.

The Faunus closed her eyes and tried to go off into a restless slumber.

" _Hey kitten." Lilac eyes looked into amber ones, "We need to get up soon before sis and Weiss Queen get back."_

 _Blake sighed heavily at the comment, "From now on, you're not allowed to use two puns back to back."_

 _Yang was taken back, "Kitten was not a pun in any way shape of form."_

" _Yeah, right."_

 _Yang frowned slightly as Blake rolled her eyes before beginning to scoot away. She caught sight of the olive complexion that was her shoulder, the crook of her neck that her lips was on not too long ago, the small of her back that she had gripped on to when laying her down, the soft naval she kissed before moving her ministrations further down._

" _No really," The brawler's strong arms caught a hold of her skeptical lover, "It was a term of endearment." A genuine smile followed the comment._

" _Oh really now?" Sarcasm still laced Blake's voice._

 _Two soft lips came crashing down, the scent of the forest floated through the mid-day air, "Yes really." Yang smiled down at her, Blake was effectively back in bed pressed against the brawler's bare chest, "I meant it, Kitten." Came the cheesy remark, Yang nuzzled her face into the midnight locks that she loved to run her hands through._

" _You're hopeless." A smile broke out from her previous grumpy complexion. The Faunus enjoyed the Yang's touch, she was warm and Blake could feel it down to her soul._

" _You love it."_

 _"Mmm..." Blake pressed her ear against Yang's chest, the gentle rhythm seemed to lull her back to sleep._

 _Catnaps with Yang weren't all that bad, is what Blake supposed._

Yang awoken from the dream, cursing the memory ever so slightly as it reminded her once more of the damnable action that Blake had made.

"Why did you leave?" Yang questioned to no one as she looked at the time on her now useless scroll.

It amazed her at how the fall of one CCTS tower had effectively cut off communication for Remnant as a whole. There was no more convenient way for anyone for anyone to communicate with each other now.

Taiyang mentioned that there were still other ways, before CCTS, before the Great War itself their ancestors had to rely on devices that used short wave radios in order to communicate. However, the technology had been deemed obsolete with the introduction of the Cross Continental Transit System, so the relics were few and far between now. Communication between the four kingdoms was nearly impossible.

"That's not the only thing." Taiyang mentioned as the two sat at the table eating breakfast, Yang nodded her head, intent on paying attention to what her father had to say, "From what I've gathered, there's a growing distrust between the different kingdoms after the Fall of Vale. Whoever hijacked the CCTS before it went down broadcasted the entire thing. The people on Patch are gossiping about how Atlas possibly betrayed us." An urgent tone in his voice, "There's talk of the coming of the Second Great War."

"It's barely been two months!" Yang exclaimed, "Vale is practically in ruins now, there's so many displaced people from there fleeing to Patch, to anywhere that isn't Vale." She closed her eyes and sighed, the once peaceful city that was home to her precious academy was now being over run by Grimm. "We have to do something about that dragon." That thing was attracting more Grimm into the city with every day.

"The Huntsman is already working on a solution." Taiyang let out, "The ones we could get in touch with at least."

"Why haven't more people rallied?" Yang was perplexed; it was the duty of every Huntsman to eradicate the Grimm. The dragon, the brawler imagined, should be at the very top of the list.

"Because it's been difficult to get word out, most of our Hunters and Huntresses were off on various missions during the Fall. We haven't heard back from everyone yet, and the longer we wait the less feasible it comes to retaking Vale from the Grimm and rebuilding the Tower." Taiyang explained.

The older Xiao Long eyed the younger; his sights moved to the absent right arm before he sighed, 'She might hate me for this later, but in all this was for the best.' He stood up to his full height, 'I need to see if she's ready, the Huntsmen are going to need me. They're going to need everyone they can get.'

"Come on, let's go spar outside."

"But Dad, what about the workouts-" Yang was perplexed.

"Outside." He flashed a smile to her.

The winter air was crisp as the two stepped out, Taiyang jumped up and down nimbly on the balls of his feet in order to get warmed up.

"So what now? Are we gonna practice combinations or-"

"You need to beat me." The simple sentence was let out before he came charging at his daughter.

Yang barely had enough time to side step the combinations, her aura activated in order to protect herself should she slip up and not dodge one of her father's combinations. A punch came to her face; Yang viewed it in slow motion and was able to catch it in her left.

The two golden aura collided into each other as Yang's feet slid across the dirt, Taiyang's form mid-air as he put his whole momentum behind that last punch.

Yang retaliated by gripping her father's fist tightly while still skidding backwards and began to pull back on the elder Xiao Long before he could regain his footing. The younger Xiao Long managed to toss the older one backwards as she flipped up into the air. Effective she landed both feet on Taiyang's back, stomping him into the ground.

Taiyang quickly reacted before Yang could deliver a well-aimed heel kick to his neck, he quickly rolled out of the way and got up into a crouched position. He made eyes with his daughter before he darted off once more.

The two exchanged blows, Yang keeping an even pace with Taiyang as they matched kick for kick, blow for blow. Despite having her handicap, Yang easily kept pace with her father, utilizing the not only her left hand to block or help parry a punch, but her elbow as well.

Taiyang had put her through exercises that required her to melee a small rubber ball with her elbow. At first the exercise seemed meaningless and whose only purpose was to frustrate her even more. But eventually the hotheaded blond learned to master the exercise, just like the several others that he put her through, and adapt to her situation. Each exercise that she had been working out vigorously for the past few weeks was aimed at her handicap.

Which is what Taiyang was betting on in order to get her to this very moment.

'Alright, not bad.' He flipped back away to put some distance between the two, but he didn't have much time to think as Yang came charging in after him.

Now it was his turn to go on the defensive, he was cautious to not get caught in Yang's traps as she was baiting him to attack her right side, leaving it slightly open. He knew that the moment he went for the opening a fast pace kick to his cranium would meet him.

Taiyang blocked a kick that was aimed for his torso; with a deep breath he looked to the ground and gathered a great deal of Aura behind the blow. Yang's eyes widened as she recognized the technique and jumped up and back to avoid the shockwaves that were about to come. A thundering noise could be heard as a deep crater formed into the ground, the shockwaves could be visibly seen and the crater itself became at least 15 feet wide.

This was all done without the use of his weapon or Dust.

Yang colored herself impressed at her old man, he had managed to surprise her again.

The dance continued.

Sweep of the leg, parry of the punch, and an elbow to the gut only to be absorbed by Aura. Taiyang smiled to himself, he was enjoying the fight, and what more, Yang was forcing him to become more and more serious as her moves became sharper, more agile, and more lethal.

He retaliated again, this time with greater speed. Yangs managed to only block or parry half of his combination, Taiyang managing very solid hits against the smaller fighter.

She had to end it soon, she could feel her Aura dwindling down to the wire, and her father's moves were becoming more and more lethal.

Sometimes Yang would forget that her own father is a great Huntsman.

'Fuck it.' Yang gambled the fight on her next move.

Taiyang came in for another combination, this time instead of blocking the first punch, she grabbed him by the wrist with her left. The elder Xiao Long did not expect this, but continued on with the next punch from his other hand. Yang watched his shoulder carefully, waiting for the right moment. As soon as she saw a shift in his shoulder to bring his momentum to his fist, Yang jerked hard on his left and brought the man unexpectedly closer to her, disrupting his form and effectively getting inside Taiyang's guard.

With what was left of her right arm, she forced as much Aura as she could to what remained and shifted her waist to bring the proper momentum she need behind the stump. With a clean shot, Yang planted her right arm into Taiyang's sternum with as much Aura behind it.

Her father stumbled backwards as the air escaped his lungs and he began to gasp for his breath.

"D-Dad." Yang was breathless, but concerned, as Taiyang remained panting on the ground.

Truth be told, he could have easily gotten up and continued, but he was simply ecstatic on the inside at what had just happened.

Yang had gained the upper hand on him.

A chuckle escaped his lips, which only caused a look of concern to form on his daughter's face, as she was slightly worried that Taiyang had hit his head on the way down.

"I'm fine, Yang." He smiled as he pushed himself up, "That was just awesome." The smile grew wider as he stood up.

"So… do we keep going or?" Yang wasn't sure, her father had been acting pretty eccentric this whole time now.

Taiyang shook his head, "No, actually…" A bit of a guilty look encompassed his face.

"What?" Yang tilted her head.

"Come on, just don't hit me too hard when you see it." Taiyang motioned for her to follow him.

Yang followed him to his study, an innocent looking box she had seen him bring home the previous week laid on the floor. Bits and pieces of spares parts and tools littered the room just the way she remembered it. Taiyang's own weapon, which inspired Yang's, was laid out on the table.

"When I went back to Signal before we started training, I picked up a few things from the workshop over there." Taiyang was referring to the fact that every student from Signal had to craft their own weapon, so there was no shortage of parts, "Of course, it's not the best looking thing, but I scrounged up the best things I could find."

He picked up the box and opened it, inside almost made Yang cry at the sight.

"W-Why didn't you give this to me sooner?" She was partially mad, but she noticed Taiyang's sympathetic look.

"Your adversaries won't hold back, especially the Grimm, they can sense your weakness and I didn't want you to go back on the field unprepared." He sighed heavily, "I almost lost you and Ruby during the Fall… and even before that it was almost to…" Taiyang stopped as he swallowed hard, "Look, I had to make sure you were going to be okay, I didn't want your weakness to-"

This time two smaller arms wrapped themselves around him.

"Thank you." Yang smiled as she hugged her father, "Thank you for being there for me."

Taiyang nodded as he wrapped his arms around her.

"C'mon, it looks cool, but it isn't put together just yet." Taiyang held up a couple of schematics, "I figured you'd want to be the one to put this together."

"I'll probably need some help." Yang joked as she waved what was left of her right arm.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Taiyang smiled as he went through the box.

Meanwhile, a sword buries itself into the chest of the Ursa, Blake pulls on the trigger and effective blows a hole through the monster's chest. Before she could even watch the black remains scatter, a second Ursa comes up from behind her with a third close on her right.

Clutching the ribbon that's attached to Gambol Shroud, she maneuvers the weapon with expert precision, using the recoil of the gun and the sharpness of the blade to easily tear through her enemies.

The commotion had unfortunately brought about the presence of an Ursa Major.

"Fuck." Blake had sweat running down her face as the towering Grimm took a swipe at her.

The clone she left behind took the hit instead as she maneuvered behind the Ursa Major, this would be second one today.

A swift swipe of her katana should behead the beast like the ones before it.

Is what she expected, but that wasn't the case. This particular Grimm was made of a much thicker skin, and all she had managed to do was piss off the creature even more.

Blake turned to do battle with it.

The whole battle exchange was seen by a nearby black bird, which sat perched on a light pole in the now abandoned city. With a hair-raising caw the Crow propelled itself forward for a rather long flight to an island west of the city.

It was night upon the Xiao Long-Rose residence.

Taiyang looked to his daughter as she experimented with the new limb.

An abrupt slamming open of the front door disrupted his thoughts.

"Uncle Qrow!" Yang cried as she ran to the man.

"Hey kiddo," He smiled as he patted the top of her head, "Getting used to things I see." He tapped the new limb as Yang nodded brightly.

Taiyang glared at his brother figure, "What are you doing here?" He was hinting to the fact that he was supposed to be looking after his youngest daughter.

"Things are fine, she's on an airship to Atlas as we speak." Qrow let out easily, "I routed her before she ended up in some serious danger."

"What do you mean by danger?" Taiyang narrowed his eyes, "Is it Ozpin?"

Qrow remained silent as he eyed Yang in the room, "Let's go walk Tai."

"I want to know what happened to my baby sister, Uncle Qrow." Yang let out.

Qrow eyed the blond steadily, "She's safe, I promise," A small smile made its way to his face, "I have a mission for you, by the way."

"What do you mean?" Yang raised a brow.

"Very similar to the one I sent your sister on." Qrow let out as Tai removed himself from his seat to stand next to his brother figure, "I'll tell you when we get back, for now, go pack your stuff because you're leaving as soon as we get back. There's an airship that's going to make it's way to Vale in two hours."

"What?" Taiyang exclaimed, his daughter had barely mastered her new limb and now Qrow wanted to send her away.

"Tai." Qrow's voice was sterner this time, "Walk. Now."

"Dust dammit, Qrow." Taiyang seethed as he followed him out the door.

"We're leaving as soon as we come back." Qrow called out over his shoulder.

The two wandered away from the house, Taiyang made sure that his daughter didn't follow the two as they reached the clearing.

Tai spun around fast and hard and buried his fist into Qrow's stomach, knocking the man into a tree.

Several trees' behind, despite how thick their trunks were, bent and bowed at the pure shockwave of Tai's unrelenting punch.

Qrow dropped to his knees as he struggled for air, "Still… Got it." He managed, glad that he had thrown up his Aura when he did.

"Why are you sending Yang away? She doesn't have any experience with her new limb yet." Tai berated, "And why did you leave Ruby alone? What happened in Vacuo? Speak now."

Qrow managed to a seated position against the now bent backward tree, "I'm trying to get their team back together."

"Why should that matter? Where are you planning on sending her?" Tai grew cross.

Qrow sighed, "Listen, this is for Ruby – for that power she has that's still some what dormant within her, from Ozpin's notes I think we have a way to tap into by-"

"So you can send her to her death like you did Summer?!" Tai yelled at the man, "Is this related to the last mission she went on?" It was a mission to Vacuo.

"Yes." Qrow sighed, "I didn't understand back then, I didn't understand why Oz sent her there, but after trailing Ruby, I do now." He thought to reach for his flask, but he looked to Tai who told him otherwise.

"Oz was hiding something, something evil, something he locked away beneath the empty deserts of Vacuo." Qrow looked down at the ground, "I think he did, at least, he didn't tell any of us in the Group about this."

"What did you find?" Tai demanded.

"I found what could possibly be extinction for Remnant, she called herself Salem." Qrow recounted, "I got in just in time before she could overwhelm Ruby and her friends. We ran Tai, ran for lives while she sent everything she could to keep us from escaping." He shuddered at the thought, "We need an army to take her down, no… we need more than that." He looked to the blond, "That's why Oz sent Summer down there, to try and kill that… that thing."

Taiyang looked to his brother, "I'm not going to lose her too." He held a defiant look.

"Which is why I'm trying to get her team back together." Qrow stood up, an equal amount of fire burned in his eyes, "I know where Oz went wrong, he was false to place his hopes on one person. But if he had sent a team, Team STRQ…" Qrow stopped as he thought back to days that have long passed.

"If it were Team STRQ, Summer would be here right now." Tai's eyes grew wet, but he took a deep breath and looked to the night sky.

"If only I had suspected something with Raven sooner…" This was his flesh and blood, how could he have not noticed that his own sister was turning traitor.

"It's not your fault." Tai cut through the silence, "What now?"

Qrow crossed his arms as he took a deep breath, "We need to take back Vale and we need to repair the CCTS tower in order to restore communication in Remnant. With the way things are going right now, we'll destroy ourselves if we can't mitigate a Second Great War."

"Then what?" Tai questioned, "Are you going to go public with the knowledge of Salem?"

"I'm not sure…" Qrow ran a hand through his head, "I think there's sympathizers… or anarchists or whatever you want to call them, people that would support Salem. Which is why I think Oz has kept it under covers for so long." An impatient sigh, "I don't fucking know, we need Oz to come back."

"So that he can potentially send more people on a suicide mission?" Tai's anger was growing again.

"I won't let him." Qrow stared down the man, "I care about those girls just as much as you do." He took a step forward, "Oz knows things that we definitely don't, and I'm going to demand answers, there's too much at stake to keep playing this game of secrets."

Tai looked off to the side, silent.

"All I know is that Ruby has this power that can put an end to that dragon at Beacon and put an end to her…" Qrow was visibly shaken; Tai wanted to press for answers but decided against it, "Put an end to that thing. Salem was scared when she saw her, but Ruby didn't have it in her just yet to take her out."

"Fine, one more time we'll team up." Tai had a defeated look on his face, "but you have to promise me that they'll be coming home."

"They will, I'll do everything I can to make sure the girl's make it back." Qrow placed a hand on his shoulder. "For now, we need to go back to Signal and meet the Huntsmen there so that we can make a plan of attack."

Tai nodded as he listened to the plan Qrow had, "Where's Yang going?"

"She needs to pick up Blake while Ruby goes and fetches Weiss from White Castle. A small group already set up a forward deployed location for Vale, Glynda and a few other Beacon teachers make up this group. I'll have Yang rendezvous there after finding Blake. I've already got Blake's whereabouts figured out and I'll pass that off to Yang before she leaves." Qrow picked out a map from his pocket and had the coordinates highlighted, "We got some serious work to do Tai."

"Yea…" Tai looked up at Qrow, "But first you're going to tell me about this Blake, who is he?" He's heard this name so many times now, but could never put a face to that name.

Qrow smirked, guess it didn't help that Yang kept muttering that name when she first made back to the house.

"She," Qrow began with a smile as the two began their walk back to the house,"is a Faunus."

* * *

Thanks for reading through, don't get your hopes up too high for the update rate, I'm aiming for once a week. These past 2 chapters have been sitting on the shelf for a bit, which is why they've been posted so fast.

I appreciate the words from everybody, hope this answers your question about that limb VirgilTheart.

Cheers,

DevilRed


	3. III

" _The Queen has pawns."_

Qrow looked at himself in the mirror before splashing more water on his face to wash away the fatigue that showed. His niece had left in the night, her mission… slightly obscured.

Despite Tai's glaring look, he explained to Yang that she was needed to continue the evacuation of non-combatant citizens that were trapped in Vale still. This was slightly stretched as Qrow had heard from the Glynda that most, if not all, the non-combatant citizens were evacuated. The scythe wielder had given Yang her own map of the city, highlighted were areas that a certain Faunus had been seen stalking about – including the building she was currently hold up in.

However, the little white lie he told his niece wasn't what was egging his mind. No, his mind thought of the other white lie he had told Tai the night prior in that clearing.

'Saying I had no idea why Summer was sent there,' Qrow stared hard at his reflection, 'If Tai knew the truth, he'd be pissed, I don't know if he'd even team up with me if he did find out.' It was a legitimate concern.

When Summer first passed, Taiyang Xiao Long was more than a wreck – he became a hollow shell who almost lost his two daughters because he was nearly inept at caring for them. What lit a fire back in Tai's soul was when he caught wind of how Summer was sent on the now seemingly suicide mission to Vacuo – she was tasked by Ozpin's Group and Tai knew very well of Qrow's association to the Group.

At the time, and still to this day, Qrow feigned to not know for what true purpose she was sent there.

Even though he knew full well, Qrow was as close to this as was most of the Group. Ozpin didn't keep the big secrets from them, but he still kept secrets. Qrow had always known of Salem, had always known of the destiny that rode on the shoulders of the Silver Eyed Huntsmen. He knew that if Tai had ever found out and that he had willing let Ruby potentially walk the same path as Summer… There probably wouldn't be anything left of him now.

The Group wanted to make a gamble on Ruby, to see if her dormant power would awaken when confronted by Salem. To see if she could be the surprise counter-strike that she hadn't suspected. But her powers just did not awaken. Just the opposite it seemed, and Qrow didn't intervene a second too soon to help the remnants of Team JNPR and Ruby escape from beneath the Vacuo deserts.

" _So you too foolishly walk the same steps as Ozpin?" An insidious voice called out to Qrow as he desperately hacked away at the grow hoard of Grimm, "How naïve, but at the same endearing," Her voice laced with a certain venom, "That you cling to this foolish hope. Arrogant, all of you."_

Qrow could still hear her haunting laughter.

Now it was time to back track a bit, perhaps if they could rebuild Team RWBY and have them confront the dragon… Ozpin's notes that he had left behind in his cane contained information from his study of Summer's own powers. A few things seemed clear – if there was certain amounts of emotion set loose will her power run rampant, some emotions caused a much stronger trigger than others.

And fear was something that only caused that great power to be infinitely out of reach. Qrow sighed; he wished he hadn't exposed Ruby to Salem if he knew _that_ would have happened.

However, with Oz Dust knows where, it was up to Qrow to shoulder the responsibilities of the Group. It was agreed upon the members, the Academy heads and Glynda, that their agenda will still be kept in the dark. There was no need to keep adding to the growing turmoil.

Ironwood was working his end in Atlas, reassuring the population and general council that such an egregious event wouldn't happen again. And then the Academy headmasters…

Qrow silently went over his mental checklist. Fighting Grimm is one thing, but keeping pace with humanity…

Yang wandered through the Residential District by the water's edge, the airship only dared to go as far as to where the water forks around the Residential District. Her current plan of attack was to follow the map Qrow had given her, the highlighted areas were places where citizens were spotted. She readjusted the backpack that held supplies for at least 48 hours.

Qrow specifically mentioned that there was probably about one more that needed to be evacuated from the area. Apparently this particular person was a bit harder to track down and help evacuate, so it was up to Yang to get this person.

'I wonder what kind of mission Ruby got sent on, Qrow said they were supposed to be similar.' Yang pondered as she walked by the river, she was wary to pay attention to anything that could tip her off to an attack or an ambush by Grimm.

So far, so good, Yang referenced the map and her current heading, she was coming to one of the first highlighted areas. An abandoned fish shop by the water appeared to be the building that was highlighted on the map.

"Hello?" Yang peered into the shop and saw that it was empty. "Anyone in here? I'm here to help you evacuate." She stepped into the simple storefront, the lights were out, and there was nothing on display in the front where the fresh catches of the day would usually go.

The only thing she found of interest was the canned fish that decorated the storefront's wall. Yang spotted that half the shelf was missing; a few empty cans littered the floor.

Yang could tell that some of the cans were opened recently. Instinctively, she activated Ember Celica… at least half of it. She maintained only one of the two gauntlets, the other half lost when she lost her former limb. A small grin made it's way to her face, she didn't have the time to really test out her capabilities that came the new limb.

She recalled her father's mad grin and wild eyes when he saw the end product that Yang came up with. Yang saw that Taiyang was ever so slightly jealous that such a weapon wasn't his.

The shop was clear in the back too.

With a sigh she continued on her way, tracking down the next possible location of the individual who needed to be evacuated. She wondered why it had taken so long for this person to get out of town. They had no business being here anymore, the place was growing dangerous – or it's supposed to be more dangerous.

Yang remembered the warnings she father and uncle has passed to her, that there should be hoards of Grimm wandering about the city. However, Yang had yet to see a single one. The brawler was just itching to tear through some Grimm at this point, especially with everything that has happened.

Although she's made some headway on the road to recovery, Yang still held on to a lot of… rage. Everything that she had experienced on an emotional level had managed to all turn into one thing, and that was rage.

Yang wanted so badly to just simply rage, she thought that now would be a perfect time. Nearly abandoned city, hoards of monsters, no one to really worry about getting in the way. Except for this pesky retard that has managed to slip through rescue assets and remained in the city.

The next stop on the map took her to a Dust shop. Like the place before, it had signs of someone being there, but it was empty as it was now.

Or not.

Yang put up both arms and her Aura to block the Creep that now rammed her across the shop and through the window.

"Oh buddy, you have a way with showing up at the perfect moment." Yang let out with a cheeky grin.

The Creep growled at her before charging head on, with relative ease Yang side stepped the creature before hammering down her left into the Creep's neck. A rather satisfying crack rang out before the body dissipated.

As expected, the Creep wasn't alone as Beowolves and more Creep revealed themselves from the shadows. Now the scene before her was starting to sound like the warnings that Qrow and Taiyang were trying to pass off to her.

The Beowulf led the charge with three Creeps in tow; claws were extended as its teeth were bared. Yang utilized Ember Celica to launch herself way up high in the air, dodging the swipe of the Beowulf.

Another shot rang out from her gauntlet and she propelled herself at the crowd of Grimm, her target was the Beowulf. With her right limb extended, and her left at her side, it looked as if she was flying at the Grimm. Her right limb began to transform, her fingers that were curled into a fist morphed quickly to take shape of a boxing glove. The cuff of the boxing glove itself let out a quick blast of Dust to increase its momentum even more. Yang smile as it seemed she was reaching Mach speed.

The crater from her impact easily out did Taiyang's from their spar the other day. "Now that's a Superman punch." Yang quipped as she stood at the center of the crater. The Creep that was blown back by the shockwave of her impact was quick to re-engage as they came hounding at her from all sides.

The cheeky grin on Yang's face didn't dissipate as her prosthetic limb, still in its boxer glove shape, transformed into the shape of a tube. A tube that made a very, very, very loud boom.

"Bang goes the boom stick!" Yang laughing, as this would be the first time she would fire her limb in this miniature RPG form. The recoil of the shot sent her back a couple inches despite being firmly planted into the ground. This would take some getting used to.

The explosion that ensued as the warhead detonated on the Grimm, black dust was mixed into the bright yellow explosion.

"That was fucking sick." Yang commented as her limb returned to it's normal state. Within her arm she could only hold up to five rounds of miniature Dust RPGs, Taiyang was slightly worried at the thought of his daughter being a literal walking bomb, but did nothing to change his daughter's mind. Instead, Ember Celica was modified to hold more rounds on her left. In addition to being a Dust RPG of the sorts, when her limb was in that Boxing Glove mode the cuff of the glove had vents all around that Yang could control. The purpose of the vents was to provide acceleration, putting more momentum behind the already durable steel.

Taking a punch from Yang's right was roughly equivalent to taking a sledgehammer to the face. When she used her punches together with the jet stream acceleration it was probably going to be equivalent to taking a sledgehammer to the face at 200 mph.

However, perhaps Yang should have rethought using the Dust RPG function as the explosion had now attracted a rather sizable hoard of Grimm.

"Well, fuck it." Yang got into a stance, "Let's dance."

She took off head first into the hoard, dancing in between different strikes while firing off Ember Celica into the crowd, thinning them out one by one. Catapulting into the air once more, she took aim with her right arm in it's RPG form and launched yet another Dust RPG from her new favorite toy.

Yang didn't stay long to watch the pretty explosion as she used the recoil of her arm to retreat away from the area.

The sun was starting to set, there was a few more places highlighted on the map, but Yang decided to start heading to the one that looked like it would be a suitable shelter for the night.

Only to catch a glimpse of amber eyes that she could pick out anywhere.

"No." Yang heard the whisper; she swung her head in that direction, only to see the clone disappear.

The brawler thought quickly – what direction would she go in? The answer came and she quickly took off in the direction she just came, she used Ember Celica to propel herself even faster as she moved to jump on to the nearest platform and then jumping on to the rooftops. Her instincts were right as she caught sight of a tail and ears not too far in front of her.

"Blake!" Yang called, another shot from Ember Celica propelled her further, closing the distance.

The Faunus ran.

However, running prey has a tendency of getting caught in the end.

Although the hunter wasn't the brawler herself, rather a large Nevermore that had scooped up Blake in it's claws.

"No fucking way!" Yang yelled in aggravation as she gathered as much Aura and strength into her legs, "I'm not letting you get away a second time!" She jumped and wasted the rest of the rounds in Ember Celica to increase her speed and height to catch up with the Nevermore that was trying to fly away.

Her right limb was pointed downward as she used the jet stream that came out of it to finally get within grabbing range of the Nevermore's back.

"You're crazy!" Was the first thing that came out of Blake's mouth as Yang mounted the Grimm's back and began to scoot closer to it's head.

"Why did you run?" Yang blurted back, "Why the fuck would you run?!"

"Is now really the time to be having this conversation?!" Blake yelled back from where the Nevermore held her, Gambol Shroud was drawn from it's sheath.

Yang's hand transformed into its RPG mode, "Yes!" The barrel was pointed at the neck of the Nevermore.

"Yang, wait-" Blake was cut off by the sound of the explosive Dust doing it's job. She felt the talons release it's grip on her.

From above her she caught sight of those golden locks that seem to catch fire against the setting sun. A rough arm caught her and wrapped her up. Blake watched as the prosthetic limb was pointed skyward; the jet stream coming out was slowing down their acceleration.

But not enough.

Blake quickly caught sight of a street lamp they were closing in on, with Gambol Shroud she hooked the weapon onto the light pole, her grip on Yang secure as they hooked around the pole and was launched about 10 feet away on to the ground.

A grunt erupted from a top of the Faunus, "Why did you leave me?" The two were now situated in the middle of the street.

No answer as those captivating amber eyes looked away.

"You know…" Yang's voice grew quiet, "You know how I feel about being abandoned." The brawler had confided many things to the Faunus, her fear of abandonment included.

"I do." Blake's tone equally as quiet, the sun's final rays gave out but the Faunus could still see Yang's face.

What she saw was anger and hurt plastered all over Yang's face as she the intensity of gaze could have bore a hole through a wall.

"Then why did you do it?!" Yang roared.

Which turned out to be a tactical error as red eyes began to surround the two.

Blake finally looked at the blond, "You've got a habit for attracting trouble."

"If someone didn't run earlier…" Yang grumbled back as the two quickly got up and stood back to back.

There wasn't much more room to talk as the first of the Grimm came charging from the shadow. Yang was getting ready to engage, but the familiar sound of the pistol discharge from Gambol Shroud had her hold steady as the ribbon danced in front of her. The chain scythe easily tore through the incoming Beowulf and the creep that was directly behind it.

The Faunus was no slouch, her technique remained sharp, if not much more refined than before. Yang could tell as she made quick work of the next two Grimm to step out of the shadow.

A deep snarl pierced the pair, both Huntresses in training realized that they were surrounded now and that their situation was growing dire. A familiar Ursa came to face the two.

"So that's where you went…" Blake let out lightly.

Yang raised a brow, "What do you mean?" She noticed the blade marks that decorated the Ursa Major's skull, "So he's your friend?"

"Something like that."

The charging Ursa ended the chat with a roar and swung a heavy paw at Blake, her clone bore the brunt of the damage as she maneuvered behind it.

The other Grimm weren't going to stand by either as Yang quickly dismantled the first two Creeps to come out of the shadows. Although things were going to get a bit complicated with another Ursa, albeit much smaller, but his friends weren't going to make things easy.

Blake had buried her sword this time into the back of the Ursa, holding on to both blade and spike that stuck out of the massive Grimm's back. She discharged two shots into the Grimm, but it only served to enrage the monster even more.

At the same time, Yang had buried Ember Celica into the skull of a Beowulf before discharging a round into his skull. With her right arm in its boxing glove mode she landed a solid blow on the Creep's spine, the impact managed to pin the monster to the ground as Yang followed up with a heel drop kick. She spotted a Beowulf making a move to where Blake was as she dangled from the back of the Ursa Major.

Propelling herself forward with her gauntlet, she had her right glove fly straight into the Beowulf's gut. The boxing glove's extra propulsion enabled her to literally fly straight through the monster before it disintegrated into the dark ashes.

Blake had started to make a different move as she jumped off of the Ursa's back. She didn't understand what made this one so much more difficult than the other one she had dismantled earlier.

Yang tried her hand as she engaged the monster head on, with quickness she landed three solid hits on the Ursa, causing it to stagger to the side. To not lose the momentum she had managed to gain on the beast she jumped up into the air and propelled her right fist into the skull of the Ursa Major.

However, this did virtually nothing but anger the monster even more.

Blake, before she could help the brawler, found her own self being the target of three more Creep as their jaws came snapping at her head. She ducked down and saw that the other two were making a move on her. With relative ease, her clone took her place as she managed some distance between the two. Gambol Shroud in its chain scythe form flew from her hand as she controlled the weapon deftly and sliced the three into pieces.

Though what came next wasn't something she was prepared for, her body felt heavy and she felt a rather dull sensation on her left arm. She hadn't gotten completely away from the three-pronged attack because a puncture wound was prevalent on her arm. Blake had no time to process how it had happen as snarls and growls and red eyes burned into her. Their fight was attracting more and more Grimm.

With a swing of her sword, Blake did not hesitate to charge the first Grimm to come at her. She parried, but her steps felt heavier, her body seemed to be sluggish as her mind was quickly processing the battle. She practically had to strain her arm to cut through the Grimm, but she was given no time to rest.

"Move!" Yang commanded as she rode the back of the Ursa Major who was now tumbling towards where she stood.

Blake complied as she quickly put distance between the Ursa Major and the hoard of Grimm. Yang carefully waited for the monster to get closer to where the hoard had gathered.

She gathered as much Aura as she could into her legs before pushing off the Ursa Major into the ground; as soon as Yang was airborne she aimed her RPG launcher at the Ursa Major. She fired the first round and the recoil sent her higher up into the air, quickly she aimed for the hoard and fired off her last round.

Blake held her hands over ears as the loud explosions rocked the ground, she turned to get up and follow after Yang.

Only to feel her body become unresponsive to her commands, she managed two steps before feeling her body fall to the ground.

A purple light hummed softly along the length of her body before disappearing like smoke into the night. How could she have been so ignorant? Her aura was depleted and she was about to become bait for the impeding hoards of Grimm to come, as she was sure Yang's explosions would attract more.

The scent of wild flowers was the last thing that clouded her mind before she lost consciousness.

Yang sat back against the wall, they were safe for now in what she was assuming was Blake's hide out. The map Qrow gave her laid by her side – it became clear now whom it was that she was sent to go pick up.

Which made sense now since Ruby went to go get Weiss.

The growing ache in her shoulder made her think about the design plan of her current limb. She liked the Dust RPG function, however the Jet Streamed Boxing Glove had lost its novelty after the day. She was positive that the lash that came from utilizing the jet stream function is what was causing her shoulder to be sore now. Yang made a mental note to tinker away at the limb some more once she had some free time.

After all, the limb was only a product after a full day of putting it together. Maybe her father's idea of rebuilding a second Ember Celica gauntlet for her right limb wasn't too bad. She could still keep the RPG function just fine, it's just that her number of rounds would dwindle down to three instead of the five.

A slight smile, maybe she could modify the gauntlet to fit 5.56x45mm Dust bullets. The damage she could do with a full clip of 5.56. Yang definitely liked the idea, the only problem was that she would need to get her hands on the proper parts.

She sighed, for now she won't bother with the jet stream capabilities in her arm.

A light sigh came from the body whose head lay in her lap, despite everything that had happened, everything that Yang felt against this particular person after she disappeared… had seemed to vanish at the sight of the helpless Faunus.

But Yang was still mad at her, she wanted answers, she wanted to know why she would think to leave, especially in the condition she had left her in. They were supposed to be together, to be there for each other… They told each other secrets from that no one else really knew. Blake had confessed to her about things she did in the White Fang that she wasn't proud of, how she did it out of self-righteousness and what she thought was for love. Love for another whom she met while in the White Fang, Blake never specified who it was, but Yang at the time didn't feel pressed to ask her. She simply accepted it and moved on.

And Yang, despite not letting Ruby know, confided into Blake her secret. How she had been hunting her mother down, going after every lead she could find. She confessed that she wanted to know why her mother had abandoned her; she wanted to know if it was because Yang simply wasn't good enough for her. But most of all… she confided into Blake her fear of being left alone - again.

Yang wanted closure, and she wasn't going to get it by not talking to her estranged mother.

The blond wanted to ask the questions that burned into her mind, who was that man she had confronted, and what was he to her? Yang knew Blake to be usually level headed in combat, but given that the man who had cut off her arm was a White Fang member… He was probably closely related to Blake's past. Perhaps this was the one she referred to all that time ago?

Yang thought back to that night during the Fall, Blake had hesitated and nearly resigned herself to him. What would have happened if had not intervened when she did?

Would she be mourning the Faunus as well at this very moment?

The brawler supposed there could have been even more terrible outcomes… Not saying that the current predicament was any better. Pyrrha had died. The strong, righteous, and fair Pyrrha whom Yang held a rather high degree of respect for... had been killed.

She could feel her temper flare, who ever did this was going to pay.

A shift in Yang's lap caused her to snap out of her thoughts, she knew Blake was coming to. Yang sighed as she looked out the window at the frozen Dragon that was on top of the tower.

Yang knew they had a job to do, but right now she needed answers from Blake if she was going to continue on with the journey. With some determination she looked down at the figure in her lap that lay motionless, but Yang Xiao Long knew Blake Belladonna, and she knew that the Faunus was feigning sleep.

"Blake, we need to talk."

* * *

VirgilTheart - thanks for the kind words, definitely means a lot to me that you've taken the time to review. I'm glad you enjoyed my take on Taiyang, I'm interested to see how Rooster Teeth is going to flesh out his character. Truth be told I'm not too sure how to go about writing Raven's character, but I do plan on making mention of her a few more times before Salvage is done.

reconghost5 - Glad you've enjoyed the story so far. Hope to still see you around once it ends.

Happy First Friday to everyone else. I might step down the rating of this story for now, however I do plan to write a lemon or two... If only you guys could see this smirk on my face.

Cheers,

DevilRed


	4. IV

Blake laid there, her head in Yang's lap still, but her ears twitched as she looked out across the room. This had been her hideout spot for the past few weeks, it was odd to think that the brawler was right there with her in that very room now, considering what had happened.

The Faunus thought about that fateful night. Adam, in that stupid Grimm mask, stood over her with malice and dark humor seething from his voice.

" _And as I go about delivering the justice that man-kind deserves, I will make it my mission to destroy everything you love."_

 _A sound that would usually bring sweet joy to Blake's ear caused her blood to run still. Her eyes betrayed her in front of her former mate, who looked over at the golden locks that fought the White Fang. Adam has a keen sense, especially with Blake. He had a tiny inkling as to what this despicable blond human meant to Blake._

" _Starting with her." He smirked as Moonslice was buried into her stomach, Blake let out an awful cry and she knew her lover well enough to know what her next move was._

 _Eyes that were more suitable for mirth began to burn, "Get away from her!"_

" _No… Please…" Blake begged, her voice weak… she had to warn her, she was not a match for him at the moment, his Semblance…_

 _The sound of Moonslice being sheathed was enough to cause Blake's eyes to widen in panic._

 _The familiar smell of used Dust powder filled the air, Yang's eyes and hair were set ablaze, enraged at the sight as her body went flying towards Adam._

" _No." She whimpered at the sight. Memories of Yang's strong embrace flashed before her eyes. How the fighter would use her right hand to tilt her chin up for a kiss. The feel of her muscular arm as the Faunus would run her fingers along its length. Her strong brawler lay limp in a heap. Her arm… her strength… it was gone._

 _Blake finally snapped from her stupor, 'She's going to die.' She shielded the unconscious fighter best she could as Adam's towering form scared her._

" _Why must you hurt me?"_

"Let's talk." Blake tried lifting her arm to push herself off, but the sharp pain from the gash on her right arm stung.

"Stay there." Yang commanded, she had her scroll out as it still had some practical uses left. "Your aura is still low."

"I'll be fine." Blake tried once more and with great difficulty to push herself up.

"You can't even take care of yourself in your current state." Yang placed a hand on the Faunus' shoulder, "Listen to me."

Midnight hair shifted as she felt the weight of the prosthetic limb on her shoulder. The limb itself was made out of a strong alloy and had gleamed silver in the moonlight vice the regular orange color scheme that was Ember Celica on her left. The pieces themselves were robust, but definitely not as comparable to what Atlas could produce.

"It's still a work in progress, me and dad only tinkered around with it for a day. This is just stuff that he was able to get from Signal." Lilac eyes caught sight of amber eyes staring at her new limb, "I can't do nimble things with it like writing, eating with utensils, or playing video games… the stuff at Signal was limited, I'm going to need to go to Atlas to get a fully functional cybernetic arm, although that one is gong to require some surgery to attach it. This one relies on Dust to function."

A tear threatened to fall from Blake's eyes, "I'm sorry," Her voice betrayed her as it came out as a sob.

Yang remained silent, her prosthetic hand still on Blake's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry-"

"Why did you run?"

It was Blake's turn to adopt the silence.

"If you're truly sorry, then you'll tell me why." A hint of constraint was in her voice, Yang was succeeding at keeping her anger at bay. Her anger, especially after being able to blow off some steam via Grimm hunting, had become more manageable than before when she was at Patch. 'I work better this way, anyway.' The silence still lingered as she awaited Blake's response.

"I… I was scared." The quiet voice let out into the night.

"So you decided to turn tail and leave me behind?" Yang's eye twitched slightly, "Why didn't you stay and tell me after I had woken up?"

"I don't know…. I mean I do, but I just…" Words couldn't seem to form in Blake's mind, which was ironic to her because of her love of books.

The prosthetic hand's grip had tightened, Blake winced at that and Yang was quick to notice and let go. "Sorry… like I said, my right hand isn't so nimble."

"It's okay." Blake let out.

Silence ensued once more.

"Do you know how shitty it felt?" Yang tried once again, her voice low as she took a deep breathe in, "To have Sun, of all people, tell me," She emphasized that part, it was no secret that the brawler harbored some feelings of jealousy towards him. "To have him tell me that you ran off. "

"I just…" Blake trailed off once more as words failed her.

"Just what? Why did you run? I didn't do a damn thing to you, I was there for you Blake!" Yang went through the scene in her head once more, "I was there for you when you had given up on yourself!" Fury began to cloud her mind; she couldn't understand why her partner had just laid there before that conniving vicious bastard with the stupid hair. Her partner might as well have been served up on a silver platter for him. "Why didn't you run when you had a chance? Why did you just give up? Why?!" Blond hair began to glow as her eyes took on a familiar shade of crimson. The memory of seeing her being stabbed played in her mind's eye.

"Because," Blake started as she, with great difficulty, pushed herself off of Yang's lap, "I'm not strong enough… I'm not strong enough to protect you." A sizeable lump had begun to form in the Faunus' throat, "I wasn't strong enough to fight back against Adam…" She took a deep breath to steady herself, the pain radiated throughout her body from her Aura deficiency. Blake Belladonna struggled to remain upright before Yang Xiao Long; a hard look on both their faces.

A hand whose warmth she felt to her soul steadied her, those lilac eyes looked at her steadily as their red hue dissipated from the sight of her. Once again, Yang's temper kept at bay from the sight of the cat Faunus.

A tear fell down her cheek, Blake hadn't even notice her face heat up or eyes begin to swell. "He…He said he w-was going to…" Her voice trailed off as it cracked under the weight of her words. Another deep breathe. "Adam said he would kill everything I love." A whisper managed in between the silent sobs, "I-I don't want…"

A flash of the brawler lying prone, her Semblance cauterizing what was left of the arm.

"…I don't want to see you die." Tears rolled down the Faunus' face. Yang's face scrunched at the sight, without a moment more of hesitation she threw her arms around Blake. "I-I thought if I left, if I wasn't around you… I thought he wouldn't be able to hurt you, or Weiss, or Ruby, or… or…" Her voice failed.

The scent of wild flowers and used Dust powder over whelmed her.

"I'm not completely defenseless." Yang managed, blossoms covered in dew surrounded her, and the more she inhaled the scent the more peaceful she felt. The more she was with Blake, the more she felt like her regular self. "A-dumb," the brawler stressed with a cheeky grin, "just caught me off guard."

The brawler supported the weight of the Faunus as she cried into her neck, "I'm sorry." Blake managed a weak smile at the ill-timed pun, "I can't forgive myself for what happened… If only I hadn't done all those things for the White Fang… For Adam…"

"You say that name one more time, and we're gonna have a problem." Yang was quick to pull back, a look of knowing on her face, "I don't care." Determined lilac eyes stared into unsure ones, "I don't give a damn about what happened between you and that guy. It's in the past now. He's in your past now and you need to stop running away from it. You need to keep focusing on what's in front of you." A gentle hand caressed Blake's head, "Focus on me. You'll be fine."

"But what about you? Who's going to protect you?" Puffy eyes were downcast.

Yang smiled, as if the answer was obvious all along. "We're going to protect each other." She leaned her forehead against the Faunus, "Together."

Blake closed her eyes, the let go of the breath she didn't realize she was holding on to, the once distraught girl nodded her head before her self-assured partner.

"Okay." A small smile made it's way to Blake's lips.

"Stop running, okay?" Yang looked at her with a pleading gaze, "Don't run from the people who care about you."

Another silent nod, Blake struggled to push herself off of the brawler and into a more comfortable position.

"Hold on." Yang gently held up the Faunus and helped to lay her on top of the sleeping bag that Blake had set up in the room. "Better?"

"Yea," Blake winced as she repositioned her right arm, the gash stung.

"You need to rest, focus on recovering your Aura so that your wound could heal up more." Yang observed her partner's status on the Scroll.

"Thanks." The katana wielder let out, "You've got a knack for bringing me to my senses… Despite your streak of absolute nonsense." She was referring to Yang's unpredictable behavior and impulses when it came to certain things.

"Someone has to." Yang flashed a smile as she sat on the ground next to her partner, she looked at the space next to her.

Blake already knew what she was thinking as she scooted over on the sleeping bag, "Keep me warm already."

The brawler nodded in compliance as she found her place next to the katana wielder. "I can do that."

"Good, it's been getting cold lately." Blake let out simply while staring into those lilac eyes that seemed to drown her in joy and happiness. "I'm sorry."

"Stop saying that, I'm getting tired of hearing it." Yang let out with a playful tone, "If you're really sorry, you'll get some sleep."

Blake nodded as she closed her eyes.

"After you kiss me goodnight." A low tone added which caused Blake's cat ears to twitch ever so slightly.

Amber eyes stared intently into lilac ones as they hovered over her.

Soft lips found their rightful place on Yang's. The Faunus' good left hand was curled around the prosthetic limb's wrist. Same hand ran its course up the metal that glistened in the moonlight before finding a perch on a very warm shoulder. This soft feathery touch on her lips just felt right.

Blake felt at home with Yang. And Dust be damned if she wanted this feeling to go away.

The two slept, or at least Blake finally did. Yang stayed up a bit longer and watched the peaceful face of her partner. The bags under her eyes had become more defined since their last encounter. Then to her hands, which were more calloused than usual, some small blisters had begun to form. Yang guessed that it was from all the fighting she had done while the two were apart.

With a glance out the window, Yang peered at the sight of the Dragon; they had their work cut out.

The early morning rays broke, the first to arise was Blake as she peered at the person next to her, making sure that this wasn't another dream. Sure enough, those wild blond locks were sprawled about, the brawler's sleeping face caused a smile to grow on the other girl's lips.

She laid there, still wrapped up in Yang's embrace, finally she took note of the rather cold arm that was on top of her. With curious eyes, she ran her gaze up and down the mechanical contraption. The lack luster shine and some mismatched metal color cued her that this was indeed scrapped together by her clever partner.

"There's a special plate that acts like a receiver where my little stump of an arm goes in." A raspy voice caught Blake's attention. "It's hard to explain, but basically my Aura and the electrical signals your body sends through the nerves in your arm in order to move your hand." Yang demonstrated with her good hand while still laying down by opening and closing her hand, "Are picked up and translated by the plate. The plate itself is attached to a Dust compartment that houses lightening Dust." The prosthetic limb moved about and Yang demonstrated it curling into a fist.

Blake's eyes went wide in surprise at the engineering prowess of Yang's mind, which shouldn't come as too much of a surprise since she did build Ember Celica on her own.

"Dad came up with the receiver plate thing, I'm not sure how, but he did. I guess he's a teacher at Signal for a reason." Yang shrugged, "But on the downside, I can't exactly do nimble things… I tried picking up a pencil, but I couldn't do it. Stuff like pulling, pushing, punching, and gripping simple stuff like a pole I can do. I need to go to Atlas for the good stuff, which might require some extensive procedures."

"It's amazing." Blake let out as she ran her hand up and down the metal arm, "I'm impressed."

"You're amazing." A low whisper as innocent lilac eyes looked up at her partner.

Amber eyes looked away to the ceiling, their owner turned to her back and then took a deep breath, "I'm not."

"You are." The brawler now hovered over her body over the Faunus, "So much for it being so easy to get me on my back." A jest, but it seemed to go unnoticed as Yang looked down.

Blake stayed quiet, obvious guilt wracked her mind. Yang frowned at the sight; she didn't want to see her like this.

So she did the first thing that came to mind to remedy the situation. Yang kissed Blake.

It was another gentle and feathery touch, but it took great restraint as just being around the Faunus drove the brawler wild with desire. Yang began to make a move to pull back, her intention is to keep the kiss short – but instead she pushed herself closer.

A small purr vibrated through the kiss, the sensation drove the Xiao Long mad with desire. Lips that had a slight citrus taste to them began to part slightly; a tongue ran across the bottom lip of the Faunus. Another purr erupted.

As soon as that purr had escaped her throat, Blake knew that there was no stopping Yang.

But Blake didn't want to stop.

Here they were, both Huntresses in training finally united. Both of which had dreamt about the other, dreamt about times that weren't so far gone, dreamt about the touch and feel of the other.

Yang ran her good hand down Blake's side, tracing her hips before moving upwards and underneath her shirt. She recalled her sensitive places, deliberately brushing her fingertips against these places that were the small dip of her hip, the bit of skin beneath her belly button, the spot in between her chest. Each time she brushed up against these places did the Faunus squirm and moan and purr.

Blake's hands found their way to the back of her partner's neck, she had a fistful of the hair which seemed to glow in the early sunrise. She gasped as the two broke contact with their lips; Blake's own lips were moist from the kiss. Although she had difficulty trying to catch her breath as those lips that she was locked on to made their way along the length of her jaw.

The hand that was playfully tracing her ticklish spots were now caressing her stomach, fingers were sliding underneath the waistband of her pants as a warm tongue swirled around the base of her neck. She stifled another purr at the sensation of her mate's tongue against her skin.

Small circles were being traced on the skin just above a very sensitive spot just below Blake's waistband. The Faunus began to roll her hips in anticipation; the brawler was getting closer and closer to her sex with every circle she traced. Yang's confident lips curved upwards as she took note of her partner's reaction. Blake could feel her body heat up, a particular sensation between her legs was building up.

A screech of a Grimm echoed throughout the other wise peaceful morning.

"Fuck." Yang cursed, her eyes ablaze at the interruption.

Blake looked up at her partner, the hand now idle as those glowing eyes looked out the window, "Better luck next time."

A low growl emanated from Yang, Blake giggled at feral sound because she knew how much Yang hated waiting when it came to things like this.

"We need to get going," Yang pulled herself off, albeit with extreme reluctance. "The main port in the Industrial District has been turned into a safe zone of the sorts. Uncle Qrow and Dad say that's where everyone is rallying." The brawler took a deep breath to try and calm herself.

Blake smirked at the sight of her worked up mate. She examined the map that lay on the floor from the night prior, they were in the center of the Residential District and therefor not too far off from the Fallen Beacon. "The Grimm hoards have extended their reach, they used to be confined mostly to the Academy borders."

"It's been left virtually unchecked for weeks, it's no surprise that the Grimm are making territorial gain." Yang peered out the window to see if she could spot the screeching Grimm from earlier. That one definitely needed to die for rudely interrupting. "Let me see your arm." She turned around to face the Faunus.

Blake complied as she held out her right arm which no longer hurt. Yang removed the bandage and smiled at the sight. She was practically good as new, "Got the doctor's approval?" Blake questioned.

Yang nodded her head as she got the rest of her stuff together. From her bag she grabbed five more Dust RPGs and began to load it into her right prosthetic, "Do you have everything?" Yang questioned, as she was concentrated at the task at hand.

Blake watched as the mechanical arm transformed into it's RPG Launcher mode, the forearm opened up to allow Yang access to reload the canisters. "Yea."

"Good, we're gonna have our work cut out for us." She got up as she flashed a wink into Blake's direction.

The Faunus hated when she did that sometimes, the way her heart fluttered every time she did so drove her nuts.

'That we do." Blake acknowledged as the two exited the building to start their journey back to Vale's safe zone.

That very morning, Qrow and Taiyang were up early sparring. The day prior was spent getting some things prepared for the long battle they had to retake Beacon. They decided that this morning would be spent to blow off some steam before they would head over to the safe zone in Vale. The two were busy trying to round up some of the other professor's a Signal to come and join the cause.

"Someone definitely did not lose their touch." Qrow commented, his weapon retracted into its compact form.

"You've only gotten better with Midnight Call," Tai commented as the single gauntlet on his left hand retracted into it's own compact mode – a rather innocent looking wrist brace. He was a southpaw boxer through and through and believed firmly that his left hand could take on the world.

Qrow wiped a bit of sweat off of his brow, "Can most definitely say the same about you and Scorch Terra." It had been a while since he had to go all out like that, the scythe wielder had an inkling that it was the same story for Tai too.

The two teammates bumped fists and exchanged a brotherly grin, how long had it been since the last time they fought like this? They took their time walking back to the house, the clearing they had just left was littered with craters, burnt earth, and broken trees.

"You packed up Tai?" Qrow mentioned casually as the two entered the house.

The blond man nodded, "Ready as I'll ever be."

"Let's hit the showers and then we'll go," Qrow reached for his flask and took a quick swig from it, "We need to meet up with Glynda and put into motion the plan." He closed his eyes, "It can't wait anymore."

Tai stopped on the second step of the staircase, he looked to Qrow with a hardened look, "We need the tower back up, and we need it now more than ever." He was referring to the fact that each kingdom's Council was on the verge of declaring war on each other. The Huntsmen knew better, they knew better because they were a smaller community and it was easier to get the truth out.

The general public was another thing, and so were the men and women of each kingdom's Council. There was only so much they wanted to believe before paranoia and fear would take over. Paranoia that their neighboring kingdom was plotting their downfall – Fear that their kingdom would end up in a similar state as Vale.

"I know Tai, I know damn well." A solemn look took over, "I'm just worried… that I'll be sending people to certain doom." The dragon… Qrow was sure that if Ruby was there, they could pull it off, but he wasn't sure how long it would take Ruby to get to Atlas and pick up Weiss. But at the same time, the man had sent her away so that she wouldn't have to take part in the hard part to come. She was still a kid.

Last Qrow had heard about the Schnee heiress was that she was practically locked up in White Castle, the key closely guarded in the form of Altesian robots and guards. General Ironwood was doing his best to enlist more help from the Council, to send Altesian robots to help with the battle, but it was proving difficult… But he still had the Special Operatives unit that was fiercely loyal to him.

Qrow had asked James how he would get his Council's permission to dispatch his unit to help retake Beacon. The General merely smirked and remarked casually, "It's better to ask for forgiveness than permission." Tomorrow was the agreed upon deadline, they had spent the past month formulating this plan and trying to gather enough people. Qrow knew better, they were lacking slightly in numbers and the predicted hoards of Grimm were greater than anticipated.

"We're Huntsmen, Qrow." Tai had a rather childish grin on his face, "Best of the best. We uphold the peace and kick Grimm ass while doing."

The infectious smile found it's way on Qrow's face, this is what he needed - his teammate, but most importantly his brother to help him see this through.

"It's what we always dreamed of becoming." The remark was slightly bitter sweet.

Tai shrugged, he looked to the floor before turning back up to the scythe wielder, "That's just growing up, everything seems so much brighter when you're young."

"Maybe a little too bright." Qrow scoffed as he started up the stairs behind Tai.

"Just a little."

* * *

Hope you guys enjoyed my stab at Qrow's and Taiyang's weapon's name. For Qrow, the name Midnight Call came up after some time of pondering - to me it seems to fit. For Tai, I looked up Yang's weapon Ember Celica (Celica meaning Heaven) and decided to make Tai's a tad bit similar (Terra meaning Earth). After all, like father like daughter. After looking over Tai's pictures and what not I noticed how his right always had that bit of armor and glove on while his left remained relatively exposed (I'm a former southpaw boxer myself) so I thought it'd be cool to make him a Southpaw and have his weapon on just his left hand.

Not sure how legitamate my explanation of Yang's prosthetic arm would be, but I figured it was close enough. I hinted at it in the past two chapters, but Yang's current prosthetic will not be the end all be all.

Krazyfanfiction01 - I aim to please, although we'll see how well I hold up from here on.

Grndrgnzrd - Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.

reconghst5 - Not sure how well of a feels trip this turned out to be. I'm unsure how Yang will really react when she reunites with Blake, but I figured I'd go for the mature route (where she lets go of her anger at Blake) like she did that one time when she had a private one-on-one with Blake. Hopefully this fits the billet.

EyesofSteel - Fan art huh? I'll think it through some, I'm not all that confident that _Salvage_ deserves some artwork love just yet. I don't mind the FMA reference in the slightest, I'm a fan. Speaking of automail, I hinted at it in the story already, but I don't plan on leaving Yang's prosthetic arm as is - there's always room for improvement. No pain, no gain.

Sachiel21 - I'm excited to see how Vol. 4 plays out, I'm glad you like the story so far. I'm a hopeless romantic at heart, but I do enjoy a good adventure.

VirgilTheart - I get a smile on my face when I see your name come up now, thanks for the kind words. I plan on keeping _Salvage_ short compared to some other stories on here - so forgive me if things seem to be moving fast.

To everyone else, a good day or good evening and a big thank you for keeping up so far. I mean it when I say that I get a lot of encouragement to write from you guys reading.

And a quick PSA: I will be undergoing a surgical procedure in about 3-4 weeks, I plan on finishing this story before then because I'm unsure if I'll be able to write for a while. However, not everything goes according to plan.

Cheers,

DevilRed


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